when it's said and done
by WastefulReverie
Summary: At the moonbase, Peridot pulls up some old Diamond Logs to show Steven the initial plans for the colony. What they didn't expect was a familiar face.


"We really are on the moon," Steven gaped. Even with less gravity, he hadn't fully processed that they were in space. Now staring out at the Earth, juxtaposed by an expanse of darkness and twinkling stars, reality came crashing down. It was beautiful.

But it wasn't what they were there for. They had to find out where the cluster had been inserted so that they could save the planet before it was torn apart from the inside out.

Across the room, the gems approached a console and tall, white chair.

"Oh my goodness! This looks like it could be brand new!" Peridot examined the console. "I mean, it's a relic by today's standards but golly... it's so elegant, so simple, so perfect!"

The gems leaned in to look, unimpressed. Steven joined them and pulled himself onto the chair to get a better look.

"So, how do you turn it on?" Amethyst asked.

Peridot frowned. "I have no idea."

Steven rested his palm against the armrest and suddenly the console lit up. "Hey, it's got one of those glowy-hand-dealies!"

Peridot blanched in fury. "You can't sit there!"

"Why not? It's really cool."

"That chair is only for the most elite gems! You can't go around sitting where an elite would sit!"

"Well… they aren't here now." Steven scooted over and gestured for Peridot to join him. "Right?"

Her face went blank. She seemed to consider it for a good three seconds before pulling herself up onto the chair and snickering.

"Hey," Steven picked up a diamond-shaped device, "what's this doodad for?"

"Put that back," she snapped. Steven shrugged and put it back in its slot.

Peridot sighed and pressed her hand against the sensor, sliding the chair forward so that she could use the console. "Here we go. This is a really old system."

A holographic screen appeared in the air before them with diamond-shaped thumbnails and strange markings that Steven had to squint to see.

"Gotta find… the right... file. Aha! Cluster, cluster… where are you cluster?" A map of the Earth appeared on the screen and zoomed in over California. "There's the insertion point! Looks like the Beta Kindergarten in Facet Nine. It's the smaller of the two—not nearly as impressive as yours, Amethyst."

"Uh… thanks?"

"But _where _is the cluster now?" Pearl pressed.

"Hang on." A diagram of the cluster under the Earth's surface appeared. "There it is! It's embedded deep in the mantle. Relative to the barn, it's roughly 2,500 units down. All we need to do is feed this data to the drill and we should be all set."

"That's it, then!" Pearl declared. "Mission accomplished!"

Steven threw his fist into the air. "Yeah, team!"

"_Great_," Amethyst rolled her eyes. "Let's get the heck outta here."

The gems started to walk back towards the stairs, but Steven wasn't ready to leave. Not yet, anyway.

"Wait, hold on! Does this thing have any games on it?"

Peridot seemed appalled at the idea. "No no no! This wasn't used for _games_." She began to type on the console. "It was used for planning the colony. Here, let me pull up the files. If I can find them anyway. Seriously, who organized this? A Topaz?"

Pearl paled. "Peridot, I wouldn't—"

"I think this should be it! These Diamond logs should tell us all we need to know about the project."

She pressed a button and a video was cast onto the screen. It was recorded in the same room that they were in, except there were two figures: a tall pink gem wearing a frilly outfit and a shorter gem, standing partially in shadow.

"Video Log 28," the pink gem announced. "I've been at this base for the past twenty rotations and I'm _bored_. I'm bored enough that I wish I were back home chatting with my Zircons. _Zircons_. I've reached a new low. Aren't you bored, Pearl?"

The figure standing beside the chair stepped forward and Steven gasped. It was Pearl, except she was wearing a pink and yellow dress with blue sleeves and her hair was a more vibrant shade of pink. He almost would have thought that it was one of those other Pearls that Peridot mentioned but it looked _so_ much like the Pearl he'd known his whole life that there was no denying that it was her.

"I'm never bored in your presence, My Diamond," she curtseyed.

"Right," the pink gem—the _diamond_—said. "Because I'm _so _interesting just sitting here, doing nothing. I don't know how Yellow and Blue do it! If I knew there'd be so much waiting involved in a colony I would've… well, I don't know what I would've done. Do you know any jokes, Pearl?"

"Jokes?"

"Yeah, things you say to make other people laugh. Do you know any?"

"I'm afraid not, My Diamond."

"Oh. Could you come up with one then?"

Pearl shut her eyes for a moment. "I could… try."

The diamond squealed. "You're the best, Pearl!"

The video cut off. Pearl had crossed the room and slammed her hands down on the console, shaking. She looked afraid and Steven couldn't imagine why. Sure, he'd had no idea that Pearl used to work for a diamond but he'd never really asked. He didn't really get what was such a big deal about the Diamonds anyway, other from what Peridot had spouted downstairs when he'd asked about them.

Beside him, Peridot whistled. "I knew that you were a fine cut but I never would have guessed that you belonged to _Pink Diamond_!"

Pearl averted her eyes and blushed. "It—it was a long time ago."

"Still, how did a first-rate Pearl like you end up as a _rebel_?"

How _did_ Pearl become a Crystal Gem?

She shook her head in a very un-Pearl-like way. "It doesn't _matter _how it happened! I did what I had to! For Earth, for my freedom!"

"Dude," Amethyst breathed. "That's… I don't know what it is."

"Why didn't you _tell _me?" Garnet asked. "Did Rose know? Did anyone?"

Steven couldn't read her expression, but if he had to guess he'd say that it was more horrified than betrayed.

Pearl bit her lip. "I… I met Rose when I was with Pink. And after, I—I could never bring myself to say it."

"How much don't I know about you?" Garnet wondered. "Thousands of years… and you never once mentioned it."

"Garnet, please… I _couldn't_."

"I don't know, P. This is kinda a big deal."

"Why?" Steven asked. "She's still the Pearl we know, no matter where she came from."

There were tears in Pearl's eyes. "Steven, I—" she cut herself off, pressing her hands to her mouth.

"I guess it was probably hard, belonging to someone," Amethyst realized.

"It was… natural. She was the only reason I existed and it took so long for me to realize that... there was more. I've distanced myself so much from who I used to be that I don't want to look back, don't want to think about those days."

"You don't have to tell us," he assured her. "It's probably something you haven't talked about for a lot of reasons and that's okay. You're still a Crystal Gem."

Steven shimmied his way out of the chair and leaned forward for a hug.

"You're still _our _Pearl."

After a moment or so, two pairs of arms joined their embrace.

"Sorry for jumping to conclusions," Amethyst whispered.

"I shouldn't have reacted that way, either," Garnet agreed.

Pearl was beside herself, clearly overwhelmed. "Thank you… for understanding."

Everything would be okay.


End file.
